Jeudi Journal - Adult

"Momma Cat was at the end of her tether.  Tom, her husband, had been away on business these past three days and that meant she was left all on her own to look after the children.  All eight of them!  Granted the older three were not that much bother, well when Dad was around, but the young ones wanted entertaining the whole time. The Twins were not as bad as the Trips (triplets) but they were bad enough when there was nothing put in front of them to do - and their attention span was the size of a gnat's brain.

Moma Cat had been busy that day cooking and cleaning in time for Aunt Tabbies visit at the weekend.  Aunt Tabby was Grandma's younger sister and a bit of a tartar for everything being clean and tidy.   Even with eight youngsters running around there was no excuse in her eyes for a "sloppy house".

Tom (Poppa Cat) wasn't due home until late on Friday evening and so there was no time for him to give a helping hand, besides which he would be tired from all the travelling he had had to do.  Being in charge of the Health Department for the city meant he had to devise lots of different ways to clean up the streets so that there were no mice or rats for people to complain about.  He had had to do lots of walking about the city, pounding the streets at different parts of the day and sometimes, the night.  Momma Cat was very proud of her husband and his work and so she set store by having a lovely home for him and his children.  

Too bad the Trips decided that today was the day they would chase the family's love birds around the living room.  The two birds were fluttering about not knowing what to do, feathers floating here and there, usually the children left them in peace when they were out of their cage but today first one and then another of the Trips set off in fits of giggles after one or the other bird.

Having had enough Momma Cat lined the whole family up.  Standing, hands on hips she told them off one by one and promised them that that night they would all go to bed without their milk and there would be no treats when Aunt Tabby came.  The Trips looked a bit crestfallen but at least they stopped in their tracks and promised not to chase the love birds any more, and to be good - at least until Poppa came back from his business trip.  Momma Cat looked at them lovingly and said  "Felix, you are the eldest of all the kitties and therefore you are going to have to step into Poppa's shoes when he is not here.  I just have to have help with the family, especially when we are to have visitors."

Felix stood, head on one side and asked "Who made me an adult" but secretly he was quite pleased to have such a responsibility over his brothers and sisters, especially the two older sisters who liked to boss him about."

I am not sure who knows why there is a story accompanying a journal page or even how it all started.  A while ago Wendy and I decided we had to do something with all of our Dylusion stamps and so the Dylusion journal was started.  Then we began joining in with the theme at Art Journal Journey and it made sense to tell the reader (our audience had widened) a bit about the characters and to link in with the theme they had set for the month.  And so a story was born.

I do not have any idea in mind when I begin, it just starts when I look at the page and I begin writing.  Sometimes I go off at a tangent and have to use the erase key because that bit won't work and something else has to be said, but to be honest it is all done rather quickly.  The words just tumble out.  Perhaps I was a story teller in a previous life?  Or is it the 'teacher' in me who thinks on the hoof like they all have to do at times?  I leave it to you dear reader, you make your own mind up.  See you next week.

WOYWW 677

Wasn't the thirteenth Anniversary a lovely one?  Certainly thirteen is not a bad number for WOYWW'ers and what lovely ATC's I have to show for it.   Here are the ones I received:

Starting top left:- LLJ, Cindy, Diana, Ali - bottom left Annie, Jo, Tracy, Julia - thank you so much ladies - for lovely ATC's and for fun and friendship along the way - roll on 1st October.

And here are some of the lovely cards that accompanied them, envelopes and stamps - delightful!

I must confess my own ATC's were under the theme "communication" and not "connections". I read it wrongly and should have gone to Specsavers.  The trouble is I did!  And only 6 months ago!  However, they did loosely fit the theme, I think.  My ATC's not my specs!  Sorry everyone.

I still have not made any progress on the project I began with my friend last week, neither has she, in fact she has not taken hers out of the bag whereas I have done more die cutting.  I think we need another session together to make any real progress.  However, I have a card I made the other week and forgot to show you - it is Aall & Create as per usual with me these days.

I don't think I scanned the one made last week, however, I will have a look around and if I find it I will post it next week.

Just a note for anyone who is having problems with comments on blogs.  I read a comment on a blog (Sirkkis from Finland left the comment) saying if you have Chrome or Safari as your browser the solution is that you turn on cookies if you haven't already.  If you get a message that cookies are turned off, you need to turn them on to use your desktop account.  This is from Google and it solved her problem.  Worth a try?

Also last Wednesday, for some reason unknown to me, I went to my comment section and began clicking on the ticks and then as I scrolled down past the 'bins' I found a tick (one not published) so I published it and then a bit further down another.  Later I checked through quite a few and found two more hidden in the depths between the ones I had already published.  How on earth they got there I do not know - so if you are having problems it might be wise to check through your already published comments.

Wanted that to grab your attention just in case you have some missing comments or cannot comment.

Now to my desk.  

The coloured card on the left of my little Artisan Explorer is coloured for me to cut out letters so that they stand out on the cards.  The greenish paper to the right is some I coloured with Oxides for the project I am still doing with my friend.  I need to do more of that paper too.

This was my desk last week with my ATC's (communication not connection - although I may have got away with it if you think about it - we connect by phone?)

Well, that is it for this week - quite a long post so I had better sign off.  See you all next week - hope to see lots of ATC's on show today from the awesome event last week of thirteen years of WOYWW.  Thank You so much Julia.

Jeudi Journal - Decisions

Gosh, been so busy and got such a lot of pain in my right hand that I was all at the last minute with this page.  Faced with the quote from Wendy, the Dylusion figures I have, and wanting to join in with some birds on Art Journal Journey I decided that an Aal & Create stencil might take the fear of the white page away from me.  So 'Lotsa Diamondz' came into play with some 'Wilted Violet District Oxide' inks.

"It was the school holidays and the 'gang' had met up at Paula's house.  They were deciding what to do because they were 'bored'.  Sally suggested they went roller skating in the local park but Paula said that it was usually frowned upon as you could knock other people down if you went speeding along the pathways.  She thought they should go to the cinema, but, as the others pointed out, it cost money and as it was such a nice day they did not want to be sat inside a cinema.

"But it's only the first day, and already we are bored" sighed Paula.  "What can we do that is exciting?"

Her brother, Billy, and his sidekick, Sid, thought that a game of football on the local playing fields was more in order but the girls were not dressed for football and Sally said that they could all go to the local shopping centre and look at clothes.  The boys sniggered at this but as Sally said, it was no worse than their suggestion of football.

Then Billy had an idea.  Whilst the girls were not looking he sneaked over to the bird cage and let the two birds out.  Straight away they began flying all over causing the four of them to duck and dive as they headed for them.  Billy thought it was great fun but the girls hated every minute of it and Paula tried to get out of the room without the birds escaping throughout the house.

"You silly boy" she said, "Wait until mum gets home, she will go absolutely mad at you.  You know the birds are not allowed out unless dad is here.  You always have to do something stupid, especially when you are with Sid."

Billy just grinned, shrugged his shoulders and said "My decisions are not always right, but they are always interesting" and he and Sid hurst into fits of uncontrollable laughter."

So there you have my page for this week.  A couple of other images from Janet Klein's collection at A&C and a bit of pen and ink forming a border.  See you over at Art Journal Journey in a minute or two - maybe you will join in with Matilde's theme of "Birds".

WOYWW 676

 It's Wednesday again, but this week it's a special Wednesday, a great Wednesday it's What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday for the 676th time.  Is that a record for a blog hop?  Thirteen glorious years of friendship.

Today we are swapping ATC's, little works of art that we have made and will exchange with others who have made them as well.  Actually if someone does not want to make an atc they can make something else or not do anything.  I've run out of mine now.

So my desk, my real normal desk, was covered in my atc's but obviously I don't want anyone to see them until THE DAY so I threw my crafting shirt over them and that is my desk for the time being.

Can you read the message on the left - it was from Seth (Apter) - such a lovely guy.

Yesterday a friend of mine came over to craft with me.  It was a lovely day but we didn't finish what we started - too big a project so you will have to wait for that one.  My tiny craft room was crowded with the two of us because we moved a table in.  This is it this morning - empty of most anything.

On the left are the plates for my EBosser, then there is some black tape, my rubbish bin (emptied and folded down, it's one of those pop up ones) and finally some card with Distress Oxides on. So sorry it is  -b-o-r-i-n-g.

So that's it for this week.  I did a couple of cards but never scanned them as they were needing mailing rather quickly.  However, this is a twisted gatefold card I made for the club class next month - and a little shadow box with wings.

Happy Anniversary WOYWW.

and Thank You Julia x

Jeudi Journal - Idiot

Rosie was a sweet and somewhat pretty young girl but she had an unnatural desire to always wear huge roses, as befits her name, in her hair.  You, the dear reader of this journal page would be forgiven if you thought the words "I'm sorry I called you an idiot.  I thought you knew" referred to Rosie in some way when in fact they refer to the two little birds who had nested amongst crown of roses she was wearing today.

"Caro, 'the canarblary bird' was a very unusual bird indeed.  She loved to flit about and find the most unusual places to rest, or even, sometimes, to nest.  In fact she had just flown all the way across the water from Germany, resting on a ferry boat whenever she could, where she had been spending the day in Balconia by the Rhine visiting her favourite hooman friend and chatting about different coffees of`all things.  She had rested once she returned to England, having a few days in the sunny south before heading up north to meet up with her family and friends.

It was whilst she was flitting about that she saw this young girl sporting a crown of roses in her hair.  Caro thought that would be the ideal place to settle for a while and so she perched high on the young girl's head, being ever so careful not to disturb the petals of the beautiful flowers.  Caro was extremely light and so the young girl, who we know to be Rosie, was not aware of the fact that a bird had nestled on her head.

Caro was extremely happy sitting there, the scent of the roses and the delightful shampoo Rosie used wafted up to her nostrils and sent her into a kind of dreamy haze.  Imagine what a shock she got when the 'nest' she had made for herself began to rock slightly.  Opening her eyes Caro saw her cousin, Sully 'the spotoobler bird', perching on one of the roses looking at her.  

"I thought it was you, only an idiot like you would perch on someone's head" said Sully as he fluffed up his feathers and twitched his tail.  "Didn't know you were back in the country" he continued.

"Who are you calling an idiot?" asked Caro, "It takes one to know one.  Besides which I was always way above you in all the classes we took at school.  I seem to remember I was the brainy one and you were the one always in trouble.  I got my wings long before you did."

A heated clucking ensued and the two of them got so twitchy that Rosie shook her head from side to side and up and down and the two of them had to fly away.  As they did so Sully shouted "I'm sorry I called you an idiot.  I thought you knew."

Caro decided not to reply, she knew what an idiot he had been at school, seemed as if he had never changed.

I pondered, after writing this, whether to turn it into a dream but thought a bit of nonsense might appeal to one or two readers and so I left my journal story as it is.  Hope it makes you smile.

To begin with I did a bit of reverse stencilling with Twisted Citron Distress Ink and my Aall & Create Stencil.  Whilst it was drying I coloured my images with my Promarkers and then decided to make a brick wall for Rosie to stand on.  

Out came the Heavy Gesso and another Aall & Create stencil, which, when dry, was brushed over with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink.

So that is me for this week, joining in with Matilde at Art Journal Journey and her challenge which is 'Birds'.

WOYWW 675

 It's Wednesday again, and that means time to meet up with Julia and her band of merry bloggers here.  If you want to join in just follow the link and give it a whirl.  There is nothing at all on my desk at the moment and so it's a bit of a set up.  I have been sat in the lounge practising my pencil colouring skills (which are nil) to the accompaniment of a class I took in February with the brilliant Tracy Scott.  This time I think it is sinking in and here are a couple of practice sheets I have done this past week.  Not much to show but it has not been a very productive week craft wise, apart from my journal page which is ready for tomorrow (with a silly story this week - nonsense).

Sorry it is so dark, I had to turn the light off to get a shot

At the front you can see a couple of new images from Vera Lane/Janet Klein which I rather took a shine too, mainly because the hairstyles were different to a lot of the others and I love to swap heads to make new characters.  These are called 'wanderlust' and as you can see they are all about travel with one holding a camera and the other a map.

Well, that is it for this week - shock horror, it's a short post - I did also make a card but as the recipient has not had her birthday yet I can't show it in case she pops on here.  See you with it next week.

Jeudi Journal - A Challenge

 "Percy had been to the zoo with his class from school.  It was the usual end of year trip and the teachers had decided that it would be both fun and educational.  The children could learn all about the animals whilst enjoying the open air and they could do some projects on the animals they had seen when they returned to school after the summer recess.

Percy was a lovely young lad, easily led by his peers but lots of fun and a very likeable child in many ways.  His mother was very understanding of his mischievous streak but she did her best whilst her husband was away serving his country.  Percey was proud of his dad and wanted to be just like him when he grew up.

There had been a lot of giggling on the coach back home but the teachers had not seen anything to worry about and they knew that the boys were all good pals and did behave silly when together - perhaps they were laughing about the antics of some of the animals they had seen.  

The coach pulled up outside school right on time and there were several mothers waiting for their offspring, including Mrs Bunt, Percy's mother.  Mrs Bunt was glad to have her son back in one piece as she had been worried he might fall into some pit with an animal or something and so she hurried him along to the waiting car.  

It wasn't until they got home that she noticed the knapsack he had taken was moving on its own!    What have you got in there, she asked.

"It's a present for you mum" replied young Percy.  "All the other kids were buying presents for their mums to take home but I thought you would like one of the exotic birds" he said as he pulled a rather bewildered looking bird from his knapsack.

(sorry its a bit skewift)

"Oh Percy", said Mrs Bunt, what am I going to do with you, you are going to be in big trouble, in fact sometimes I despair, you can be trouble with a capital T at times."

Percy looked at her with his big eyes and said "I'm not trouble just a challenge".

This is based on a story I was told when I went as a representative of the Girl Guides (Girl Scouts in America) in the UK, to an International camp in Denmark, many many moons ago.  Now how true it was I have no idea but the (mature) lady who told it was a teacher from the north east and I had no reason to disbelieve her.  I have heard it as a funny story since so who knows?

I am entering this into Art Journal Journey where the challenge this month is "Birds" as set for us by Matilde who hails from Poland.  You can see her work here and I am sure you will love her inspiration page as much as I do.

WOYWW 674

A scheduled post because I am probably not going to feel up to posting early in the morning tomorrow.   I didn't want to miss, don't think I have ever missed posting since I joined way back in goodness only knows when, so I am showing you my latest bit of crafting.

It's ages since I did any of these pointy cards and to be honest I had forgotten how to make them so the trusty computer had to come out for a refresher course.  Thank goodness for You Tube.

That's my little Artisan Explorer you can see on the left - the footprint is only 4.5" but it is a powerful little machine - all metal inside!  The pot with the yellow lid holds my tablets for the day and there is a glue sitting on top of it plus a large one at the side of it.  The circles were what were cut from my circle cards and then I used them to cut the ovals for these cards - that's the scrap.  Along with the bits on the right hand side.

I have also been making more of those circle cards with the crafty things on them - these are mainly for members of the stamp club but none of them come on here so no danger they will see them - they still want names adding in the circles but i did make six.  One went a bit wrong as I stuck too much on and could only fit 'happy' on the circular bit so the 'birthday' will have to go across the centre instead of a name.  These were done a couple of days ago when I wanted my mind occupying mindlessly.  

No two are alike because of the images stuck on

There may yet be other cards in the making - all for club members but not all for the club I go to - some for my internet club friends.

Well, that is me for the moment and so I will link myself to Ms Julia and the WOYWW'ers for the weekly desk hop/snoop.  Why not join us, it's all good fun and your desk can be tidy - messy - or in between.